Ample amount of suds, lacing on the glass and a perfectly clear ale golden color. Spicy oily hop meets a delicate but pronounced floral aroma, some fresh cracker like maltiness as well. Crispness is there and the body is a bit bigger than I expected though I really should have expected it ... its a Sam Adams trait. Heavy spoonful of malt followed by a spicy herbal hop and then a more unique spicy jasmine floral tone which balances the malt and provides some depth. Spicy and dry malty finish.

The ale has "Extreme Session Beer" written all over it ... thanks Sam Adams for continuing to define what an extreme beer can be and that it can be subtle. Being this beer is aimed for summer time consumption I highly recommend it.

Overall: This to me is an average beer and of Sam Adams special offerings this is with the Coastal Wheat as the least impressive of the bunch. Not a bad beer, but not enough to jump out. Has the characteristics of Sam Adams beers. Crisp, but this is a miss for for me.

The beer pours a yellow-gold color with a white head. The aroma is heavy on the wheat and grain with not too much else going on. The flavor is more exciting. I get some grain and grass notes, as well as some bready malt and a little bit of grape characteristics. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Decent, but not as good as I was expecting it to be.

East-West Kolsch opens with a yeast, floral aroma, much like a baking loaf of wheat bread with just a touch of lavender and jasmine. A good helping of orange and apricot fruit esters add to the bouquet, and a strand or two of wet wheat stalks adds an earthy tone. The aromas are good, and nicely nuanced, but quite light, and tend to disappear when one attempts to sniff them repeatedly (such as when trying to write a review).

On the tongue, the beer opens with a mainly-malt flavor profile, bringing fresh Grape Nuts cereal, toasted wheat bread, and biscuit flavors. Hops kick in after a few seconds, adding very slight bitterness, as well as a faint citrusy backing. The added Jasmine Sambac (from the label: "a night blooming Southeast Asian flower") comes into play next, adding a delicate petal-on-water tinge of jasmine, which does bring a nice complexity to the brew. The jasmine flavors are, however, the first to fade off, leaving the rest of the mouthful mainly dominated by the grains. The aftertaste is mainly grains, with a few remaining (and very faint) jasmine touches, and fades with medium quickness. Mouthfeel is medium-light, and carbonation is medium.

Overall, this is decent fare, though I can't honestly say that I would have known of the Jasmine Sambac addition if it hadn't been pointed out to me on the label. It doesn't help that the floral notes are so delicate that they're easily overpowered by even the moderate grain flavors, and in subsequent mouthfuls are almost entirely subsumed. Still, the flavors in this beer are developed, and the apricot and orange notes are delicious.